In 1946 and 1952 he was twice elected as a member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He held charge as the Finance Minister in the State Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1967. He will always be remembered for his constructive opposition during his long tenure as the Deputy Leader of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly.

Pt. Kunji Lal Dubey was also deeply interested in sports. His encouragement of sports and fine arts in the Universities won recognition with his appointment as President of the Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, founder member of the Madhya Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy and President of the All India Ayurved Parishad.

His multifaceted services were recognized in 1964 by the award of Padma Bhushan. In 1965 Jabalpur University bestowed an honorary Doctorate of Law on him for his services in the field of law and education and Vikram University awarded him D. Litt. in 1967. A towering intellectual in Hindi, English, Marathi and Sanskrit, Pt. Dubey was a simple man and extremely ethical in his personal and public life. He passed away on 2nd July, 1970.